How about these right… I think you’ll find the following nuggets of wisdom particularly insightful. Leave your comments below. Check out the second one in particular…

Law Firm Outsourcing: the Intangible Benefits — Lawyerist

Outsourcing work at your law firm may be a cost-effective solution that you may want to consider.

New York Business Lawyers for Small/Large Businesses-BizMediaLaw Blog

The Wahab & Medenica LLC (a New York business law firm) Attorney blog with regularly updated information for large and small businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs in New York and elsewhere. Wahab & Medenica LLC, 1115 Broadway, …

Mesothelioma & Asbestos Litigation | Simmons Law Firm

Your Ad Here · « Ted Gianaris | Mesothelioma Lawyer at Simmons Law Firm. Mesothelioma & Asbestos Litigation | Simmons Law Firm. By admin | Published: May 7, 2010. www.simmonsfirm.com – John Barnerd: Mesothelioma is a horrendous disease …

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Ok so you might find the next few links interesting. These are from around the web, just random snippets that I’ve picked up in my reading, but I found some very cool information in them. You might too. Here goes…

Rocket Matter Practice Management Software for Sam’s Law Firm …

Rocket Matter practice management software makes its case.

Law Firm Diversity in Minnesota | The Deets

flickr-photo { border: solid 0px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 0px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em;

Noted Environmental Attorney Stuart H. Smith of Smith Stag Law …

NEW ORLEANS, May 8 /PRNewswire/ — The following is a statement from environmental attorney Stuart H. Smith of Smith Stag Law Firm, New Orleans on behalf of Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group: “The Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group, …

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A survey conducted by the American Bar Association has revealed that many attorneys in private practice are also employed in big law firms. Some of these over-sized having more than 100 attorneys on their pay-roll are recognized as mega law firms. There is no denying that employment in such big organisations has unique benefits and challenges those seldom found in other practice environments. Also they provide highly paid practice environments for legal professionals and the attorney employees are offered generous compensation packages as compared to those working in the government, judiciary, less big law firms, non-profit and public interest organizations.

Since many of these firms pay handsomely, they can afford to recruit better qualified lawyers, paralegals and staff. They often recruit only the top students from the most prestigious law schools. Paralegals in large law firms generally have bachelor’s degrees and meaningful experience in their legal specialty. Clients generally entrust complex litigation and transactional legal work to big law firms which have highly talented attorneys and plenty of resources.A big law firm with diversified client base is unlikely to encounter financial difficulty as such the employee attorneys enjoy job security as well as attractive compensation.

Employee attorneys of these companies also have access to service copy centers and extensive law libraries, in-house gyms and full-service cafeterias. Also,they have extensive administrative and support staff at its disposal and employee attorneys can avail their services. Staff may include administrators, secretaries and paralegals, marketing specialists, IT personnel, office clerks, librarians and messengers.

Huge firms have prestigious offices and spacious surroundings compared with small firms, public interest firms and the government. Further, these offices are generally located in prime areas, close to the courthouse, fine dining (to woo clients and recruits) and all other amenities. Many of these firms have multi-jurisdictional practices and at multiple locations across the globe providing lawyers and paralegals the opportunity to serve international clients. They often conduct training and orientation programs for their associates, employee attorneys, paralegals and other law firm professionals.

These firms have well-defined organizational hierarchies creating not only more job opportunities but also growth prospects. The career graph of a lawyer employed in a large firm might progress from entry-level/junior associate to mid-level associate, senior associate, non-equity partner, equity partner and senior partner.

Lawyers working for these firms may enjoy benefits ranging from free admission to sporting events and invitation to cultural programs and all prestigious social events. Working for a well-established and well-recognized attorney firm means high social status. The opportunity to handle high-end, complex legal work provides the employee lawyers with an intellectually challenging environment.

However, working for such huge firms does not mean it is only a bed of roses. It has also its own share of disadvantages. Working for long and irregular hours is inescapable when you are hired by such forms The road to higher positions for these firms may take much longer with several tiers and rigid conditions for advancement. Due to elaborate hiring processes and attractive pay packages, the workload of lawyers, paralegals and other professionals can be demanding and high standards of competence will be expected. Since large law firms tend to be more specialized, lawyers may be forced into a niche practice area that may not be in keeping with his or her aptitude.

Sarah Jose is a Copywriter of BensonCoLaw. She has written many articles in various topics related to Kelowna lawyers, law firm Kelowna. For more information on lawyers, visit Penticton lawyers

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I hope you’ve been enjoying my posts lately. I thought I might do something different today and rustle up a few bits of info from around the WWW. These are some of the news items and blog posts that have been popular over the last few weeks. Leave me your thoughts.

Law Firm Diversity in Minnesota on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

Law and Politics knows how to write a teaser.

Law Firm Marketing Consultants EXCLUSIVE Search Engine …

Law of Attraction – Most Professional Mind Movie Yet. Title: Law of Attraction – Most Professional Mind Movie Yet; Runtime: 3:49; Description: www.mindmovies.com A lot of you have asked me how … Internet Marketing Course …

Legal firms for Legal Assistance – NiceArticles.net

What does Prepaid Legal Services offer? They market legal service plans. They have a network of law firms over the US and Canada. The customer purchases a type of legal insurance that connects them with a law firm in their area. …

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One thing you must understand is how a debt settlement attorney and his law firm will help you. The first thing to be aware of is that the purpose of they attorneys is to help you get out of debt as quickly as possible. The attorney’s goal is to reduce your debt as much as possible as well as to reduce the interest rate so that you are able to climb out of your hole.

The unfortunate thing about this process is that you need to let your debt default in order for the creditors to be willing to negotiate with your attorney. The creditors want you to continue to pay only the minimum payment so that you pay all the interest, and that’s where they make a ton of money. This is where the length of your debt just seems to add up to 30 years or more. So your attorney needs you to actually stop paying so that he is free to make an agreement with the lender and reduce your debt amount and interest rate.

Please be aware that this will hurt your credit score, but in the end it’s worth it because you’re going to be debt free. It may not make a difference anyways if your credit score has already been compromised. Your credit score will recover after a while, and it will recover even faster once you’re out of debt, which is the ultimate goal. So don’t be afraid to start this process now simply because your credit score may drop a bit.

When you stop your payments and your attorney is in the process of working out an agreement, your goal is to save up as much money as possible. This is going to help tremendously when an agreement has been reached and you’re able to pay off a large portion of your debt right away. You will also be able to have some money to live off of.

The nasty collection calls will also stop once you hire a debt settlement attorney. If the calls don’t stop, your attorney likely has the legal right to make them stop. Once you do stop your monthly payments and default on your bills, your creditors do have the right to take you to court, and your attorney will be able to help if that happens. It’s very unlikely that they will because it is very costly and there’s no guarantee that they’ll get their money, even if they win. It’s still nice to know that someone has your back.

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of what a debt settlement attorney can do for you, and I wish you best of luck as you try to become debt free!

You’re going to want to check out this site on how to find the best Debt Settlement Attorneys.

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Attorney Search Firms: Helping You Find Best Job

With the crime rates being all time high the demand for lawyers has also gone high. A person involved in some law cases have to seek advice from a lawyer to represent himself in much better manner to increase his chances of winning the case. Hence having a good lawyer who having good knowledge about his field can be very helpful.

Every year many students graduate from law school. Some are lucky and immediately get associated with a reputed law firm with their internal contacts but for few it becomes a struggling period to land on their dream job. These students constantly look for change and hunt for better opportunities. The reason for being associated with a reputed law firm or working under an experienced lawyer is because it is a learning phase initially and when you are attached to good lawyer you grow with the firm and learn lot of new things every day.

There are many students passing out of law school every year and then the hunt for working under a well established independent lawyer or a law firm begins. Some of the candidates are happy working on the assignment assigned to them while few other are not satisfies with their job profile and constantly look for change. When you work for a reputed firm or a lawyer the chances of growing and becoming a good lawyer increases as you learn a lot during the process.

There are many attorney search firms who help people in finding their dream job. If you are dissatisfied with your job or are looking for a profile change then these attorney search firms are the best way of making it. They have helped aspiring lawyers to land spots toward promising career futures as corporate world in-house attorneys. You do not have to run from pillar to post for finding the right job, as the experts will help and guide you in achieving your dream job in much easy manner.

The old way of searching through the newspaper or for any other publication for the job has taken a back seat now. Now people are using more advanced method like visiting many online sites which have a huge database of various jobs opening at different level. These search firms have made job hunting simple and quick. There database keeps on updating with the latest requirement so browsing through them frequently will help you find the b
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est job. Just type in the keyword that matched your profile and you will find a list of job opening in the field of your interest.

These attorney search firms have good references and can be quite helpful both for the law firms and the lawyers. Just like a job seeker, even firms approach them in order to help them in finding a good lawyer for their firm and hence they have a two way connection fulfilling both the demand and the supply.

You can browse through the internet and find many attorney firms having an expert panel of people in their board. Since they are aware of the latest demands and the requirement, they even help by giving valuable tips on improving the success rate of making through the interview phase. Having the right attitude and personality can distinguish you from the rest.

With proper search tools and right guidance you will defiantly succeed in finding the right job.

By: Joy Hanberry

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

You need some attorney search firms to provide you some guide where to find jobs of your dreams. You definitely need immediate assistance with the rising rate of employment. Or you may try Lawyer Search Firms.

Who knows the name of the law firm that handled Cardinals …

They used to advertise frequently on the radio in St. Louis, and he even used to do commercials for them. I’m looking for an attorney that specialized in.

As Number of Motorcycle Deaths Rise Annually, UT Law Firm Notes …

Because the number of annual motorcycle fatalities has increased for the 11th consecutive year, Utah based law firm Nielsen & Senior notes the need for immediate education and solutions. (PRWeb May 9, 2010) …

Injured Woods quits U.S. tournament | CASSANO LAW FIRM

Tiger Woods was forced to pull out of the final round of the Players Championship at Sawgrass on Sunday with a neck injury.

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Hey Readers! I’ve been comin across some crazy stuff the past few days from a few different blogs around the web which I just had to share with you. Check em out below…

Lawyer Marketing and Law Firm Website Designers of CEPAC at AAML …

Lawyer Marketing and Law Firm Website Designers of CEPAC at AAML/AICPA National Convention on Divorce CEPAC specializes in developing law firm web-marketing.

Judge awards ex-staff of an Ormskirk law firm £150000 in pay-offs …

A JUDGE has awarded 21 former employees of a law firm a total of almost £150000 in pay-offs.

Leading Detroit Area Law Firm Obtains Dismissal in Environmental …

Foley, Baron & Metzger, PLLC, a leading Detroit area law firm, recently obtained a full dismissal of claims against its client, a product manufacturer, in a.

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Legal Practice: Deciding On A Boutique Approach

Law students have many areas to work on. You just have to decide the field or the area and continue searching for jobs of your choice. Once you have secured the right opportunity you can take your career forward to a position which you want to see it at in a few years. But before you take any decision make sure you have a complete knowledge of the field of your choice and also about the other fields. This will help you take a better decision for your career. You can even switch fields later in your career, but making a proper decision early on will lay a strong foundation for your future.

You have to decide where you want to work and where your interests lie. Do you want to go for general practice at a law firm or do you want to work in a smaller boutique atmosphere? Working at law firm and at a boutique is different. It will be very difficult for you to decide in a later stage of your career to shift from a large general practice law firm to a smaller boutique. Shifting to a smaller boutique environment asks for a great deal of adjustments on your side. A. Harrison Barnes, the owner and creator of BCGSearch.com, suggests you to take the decision earlier on in your career.

For making the right decision in your career, A. Harrison Barnes suggests that you know the difference between a boutique firm and general practice one. A boutique firm is a group of lawyers who have specialized in a particular area of law and have chosen to continue in a particular field. But general practice is different from a boutique set up. The boutique is specialized in a particular area but general practice handles various legal issues for their clients. The attorneys cannot make exceptions. The count of clients at a large general law firm is more than a boutique due to this very reason. Even the attorneys have a higher scope to progress in their career than the attorneys of a boutique. At boutiques you have less billable hours but it is more with the larger general practice firms. Since their client base is huge, there is always work that will pile up in a general practice firm.

A. Harrison Barnes knows many people who have shifted from large law firms to a small boutique and have ended up criticizing their decisions. It is so because a law firm is a better place to practice
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law than a small boutique. A sudden shift in can have a negative impact on the daily practice of an attorney. He needs t o adjust himself to deal with only one particular type of law with a lesser client base. This can be detrimental in the longer run if the lawyer fails to adjust himself.

Culture Difference

A. Harrison Barnes from his experience says that the there are many small boutiques that have got excellent culture but at times there exist people who are difficult to deal with. In small boutiques avoiding such people is impossible. But this is not in case with a large law firm. You can easily avoid such people who are difficult to be with by simply concentrating on your work. This will help you avoid any confrontation with that particular associate.

Difference in Clients and Work

Smaller boutiques also have got sophisticated clients but the number of such boutiques is lesser than the equivalent number of larger law firms. With a sophisticated client comes the sophisticated work that adds to the company’s profile and image. Evaluate the top ten clients of the organization and the duration for which they have been associated with the firm. That should give you a fair idea of the boutique and of its client handling skills.

Economic Conditions Affecting the Stability of the Organization

If a boutique specializes in a particular law area then chances are it can suffer during adverse economic conditions if they have not diversified their business. Boutiques generally specialize in a particular area of law and thus their financial condition worsens in case of a down time in the economy. The large law firms however deal with various areas of law and hence they can spread their losses if any due to current economic scenario, over a wider spectrum. Their attorneys are specialized in different fields of law. A. Harrison Barnes believes that this helps them bring stability if one of their practicing fields is in danger during such economic situations. Always consider the short term and long term impact of a slump in the economy on boutique firms.

Few People Make Decisions

In a small boutique, only a few people make almost all the decisions related to the firm, its associates, and its clients. They control everything; make decisions that will help the firm grow and often decide the growth or progress of the associates working in the firm. Always check and see if it will be viable becoming a partner, considering the time span and so on in such a firm. Ensure that you do your research and only then go ahead with your decision.

Moving from large general practice firm to a small boutique has both advantages and disadvantages. It is up to you to decide which suits you the best In terms of your personal goals and requirements and it will definitely help you further in your legal career. Adjustments are just one need to make to bring in the changes, says A. Harrison Barnes.

By: Employment Resources

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

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Credit Repair Law Firms Are Scams

There are hundreds of law firms out there that specialize in credit repair. I may get sued for writing this, but it’s my opinion that credit repair law firms like Lexington Law are scams. Here’s why:

Problem #1: Ridiculous Monthly Charges
Lexington currently charges a $99 setup fee and anywhere from $39 to $79 every month that they work on your file. Since they charge monthly, the longer they take to repair your credit, the more money they make. In fact, some credit law firms tell you that it could take a year, two years, or even three years ($567 to $2,000), which is why they’re getting very rich.

Why pay $2,000 or even $500, when there are excellent credit repair programs available for less than $100?

Problem #2: You Do Most of the Work
Here’s a dirty little secret that credit law firms don’t want you to know: you still have to do most of the work yourself–more work, in fact, than when you use credit repair software (more about that later).

In addition to all the paperwork you have to fill out and get notarized, you must request your own credit reports. Since the credit bureaus mail all documents to you, you will be constantly copying them, putting them into another envelope, and sending them to the law firm. You might have to do this five or six times every week.

The credit repair law firm will then scan your credit reports and post them on the web (security issues?) Then, believe it or not, even with all the money you’re paying to the law firm, you still have to go to their website and choose for yourself which items you want to dispute and even how to challenge each negative credit item.

All the law firm does is print out form letters that they send to the credit bureaus. Doesn’t it make you a little uncomfortable knowing that the longer they take, the more money they make?

Problem #3: Crappy Guarantee
All they have to do is remove one credit card inquiry and they consider that they’ve done their job, so there’s no money back even if 99% of your credit report is still negative after three years and $2,000.

____________________________________________.

As you can see, these law firms are often nothing more than letter-printing factories that make more money the longer they tak
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e. So why pay so much money to get such little service? Especially since it’s possible to accomplish the same goal with much less work at a fraction of the cost.

By: Creditexpert

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

There is a better alternative to using credit repair law firms like Lexington Law. The best credit repair solution we’ve discovered so far is Credit Repair Magic (available at www.CreditRepairMagic.com. For a one-time fee of $97, it’s the fast

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I have always used Internet Explorer as my primary internet browser. I have used Firefox and Safari to test websites and make sure that they function properly, but pretty much every working day of my life, and most weekends too, I have searched the internet using Internet Explorer as my primary browser. Whilst it worked I had no reason to change. It did all that I asked it to and seemed to work very well.

At one of my regular law firm marketing consultancy clients I had to use Firefox because Internet Explorer (IE) kept crashing their wireless network (oops)! However, I did not enjoy the experience and returned to IE as soon as I was back in my office or visiting other clients.

Then suddenly, for no reason I could find or understand, Internet Explorer kept freezing, not only on my computer but my children’s computer too. Now as Dad and household IT fixer this meant I was having to sort out my children’s computers at night as well as my own. I spend a lot of time on computers so this was not a welcome intrusion into my short evening. Enough was enough, IE was swiftly dumped and Google Chrome was tested for a few days.

It worked, did not keep crashing and it had a much bigger display than IE as it cut out a lot of the unnecessary junk at the top of the page. So my browsing was much better because I could see more of the websites that I wanted to. Also, the best part, there was no need for a separate search box at the top of the page, you simply type in your search term into the URL address bar and Google knows you are trying to search so presents your results. Simple, yet brilliant.

I had used IE for all of my browsing life, at least 10 meaningful years and then in no time at all they lost me as a user. Google had kept mentioning Google Chrome to me every time I browsed and searched on Google using IE. Subtly and not so subtly Google kept suggesting I try Chrome as my browser. For a long time I was happy to ignore their messages, UNTIL IE caused me pain and kept crashing. Then I was a Google Chrome convert.

Is this not the same approach you need to take to converting prospects into new clients of your law firm? Particularly with commercial lawyers, if you are looking for new clients (and you always should be as if you are ‘Not moving forwards, you are moving backwards’) then when you find a potential client, you have to keep popping up under their noses. If you do not you are missing massive opportunities as it is only when they have a problem with their current solicitor that they will change. If you are not in front of them at that time you will not win their business.

If you have found a prospect that you know would be an excellent client, have kept in touch with that prospect by constantly sending useful information, press cuttings of interest and newsletters, you give yourself a chance of winning that new business. It might take one month, three months or three years. Some of my best clients that I work with on a regular basis first received my free marketing guide 18 months before they instructed me; others two years. I gave myself a chance of them using my services by constantly providing them with useful information. When they were ready to ask for some help with winning new business for their practice, who did they ask? A law firm marketing consultant that had once sent them an email, or one who practised what he preaches and kept in touch with them regularly and provided them with useful information that proved their expertise? Well they are my clients so we know the answer to that one.

It is no different for you. If you want to win a good client, or an excellent referrer, you have to keep going until they are unhappy with their current supplier and decide to find a new one. At that point, if you have done your job well, the only firm they are going to approach is your firm. Now in a race, would you rather be one in a field of 20, or one in a field of one? I know which race you are most likely to win.

Most firms I speak with that mention a prospect they would really love to work with, when I ask them what they have done to try and win their business they explain that they once tried calling them but they could not speak with the decision maker. Once! Once is never enough. Do you want to know the only test to use for deciding when you have made enough of an effort? When the prospect engages your services or tells you never to contact them again. Even on the second option you could try again a few months later as decision makers often change and someone else might be in the buying seat then.

Don’t give up on your law firm marketing, go Chrome and keep going until your prospects submit to your services!

Need more free tips? Visit Samson Consulting for a free Legal Marketing Report explaining 8 steps you can take to immediately increase your profits by generating new client instructions.

Looking for more Law Firm Marketing Tips?

Nick Jervis is a Solicitor (non-practising) and a Law Firm Marketing Consultant in the UK.

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When debt becomes a dilemma to you you might have several options, but dependent on your situation some options will not be feasible. How does somebody know if they’re making the ideal choices when contemplating working with a debt settlement company? Selecting the best company to work with you certainly is the key to success.

Looking for a debt settlement attorney who will assist you to alleviate your debt problems is critical to providing you with comfort when coping with a debt situation. With the rising amount of debt settlement companies currently the possibility of being scammed by a less then scrupulous company increases. A debt resolutions law firm answers to a much higher authority and therefore held to higher standards.

These collection agencies who want your hard earned dollar and want you to pay that debt can bother you seemingly non-stop. These companies will then go to your close family and badger them if they can find their contact information.

These huge number of calls can put animosity between your family members that is definitely not good for your long-term mental and physical health.

A debt settlement law firm could possibly be your advocate if these agencies are simply just playing too much hardball with you. These agencies are not allowed to violate your rights set forth in laws such as the “Fair debt and collections practices act”. A debt settlement attorney definitely will protect your rights and keep the creditors at bay.

The simple fact is that trying to do this alone, though not impossible, is extremely difficult and time intensive.

It’s a little like changing the oil in your car. You can find kits you could buy from auto parts stores that enables you to get it done yourself and you definitely save a lot of money up front. The question is, is how much is your time worth? And do you possess all the tools and knowledge to be sure it is done correctly? Will you know if you did not do it correctly until it’s too late? More often than not people opt to pay to have an expert do the service on their behalf as it is without a doubt worth the fee and is often considered money wisely spent.

This is also true with trying to deal with your mounting debt situation. Although you can definitely attempt to do it alone contemplate the questions above. As numerous folks have found out the hard way, undergoing it alone can lead to costing you not only money in the end, but an immense amount of time and effort. Unless you have done this as a profession, it is highly recommended to speak with somebody who has, to see if having a debt settlement lawyer oversee your case could be best for you.

A well established debt settlement attorney will understand how to approach each individual creditor the correct way. Unlike you, they don’t have a personal link with your debt and will examine each situation objectively. They often will have long standing dealings with these collectors and will come to them with quite a few clients making their offers more beneficial to the creditor. They will also have data to reference to discover if the offers given by the creditors are actually the best that’s available.

Collection companies can regularly skirt the law and force you into paying as much as they want by telling you things that may or may not be true. Quite often these companies threaten law suites and legal action.

Having a highly skilled debt settlement law firm represent you offers the legal clout required to address these claims. A lawyer can detect whether a creditor is spewing idle threats of if they need to contact the opposing attorney and settle outside of court.

Phill has been in the debt relief industry for many years and currently works with a debt settlement law firm to help people deal with their debt situations. He urges people to ensure they are handling their debt the legal way and speak to a debt settlement lawyer to find a debt relief program that will be best for them.

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How about these right… I think you’ll find the following nuggets of wisdom particularly insightful. Leave your comments below. Check out the second one in particular…

Lawyer Marketing – Law Firm Website Design Team of Cepac at the …

CEPAC lawyer marketing specializes in developing law firm web site design, law firm marketing strategies that are favored by the Google Caffeine.

A Majority of Law Firm Marketers Are Investing in Website …

53% of law firm marketers said that their firm had recently redesigned their website (since January 2008), according to Great Jakes, a web marketing f.

Law Firm Stocks — Mises Economics Blog

Ethical rules i.e., the American Bar Association Model Rule 5.4 prohibit firms from selling equity shares in law firms to non-lawyers. Specifically, it says that a lawyer shall not share legal fees with a non-lawyer. …

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

Law Practice Management – How To Determine Your Fees

Determining fees is a difficult law practice management task for most attorneys when thinking through their law firm marketing plans. In determining fees for certain services, attorneys often fall short of what they should charge. Too many attorneys are afraid of even charging the competitive price for their services when making their law firm marketing plans. Further, they make the pricing decisions often with no data or conceptual framework. Additionally, instead of focusing their efforts on how they can justify getting top dollar for what they offer, they charge a fee that is often way too low and often actually can scare off potential clients who think there is something missing from a service that is “cheap”. Additionally many attorneys don’t realize that most purchasers in the marketplace by far are “value purchasers” and not looking for “cheap”.

So before you sit down and begin thinking through your law practice management pricing strategy you need some distinctions around pricing commonly used in law firm marketing planning. Then add your pricing strategy to your law firm marketing plans. You need to be sure that you are charging a sufficient fee on everything to guarantee you a good profit not just a good living. Do know a law practice management law firm marketing plan is not effective if you only attract people who want to pay the lowest fee for a service. These are not loyal clients. Instead, you want to focus your law practice management and law firm marketing plans on attracting clients who will become long term assets to the firm. Low price clients are not building your base of long term clients I can promise you that.

There are basically four ways of determining how much you should be charging for your services. Lets move right into those now.

The Market Method In Law Practice Management Pricing

This is one good way of determining pricing. Get your assistant to support you in this law practice management task and spend some time discovering what the range of pricing is in the community. Have her do a “mystery shopper” study by calling around as if he/she were a potential client and find out what your competitors say
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on the phone to her around pricing. She may need to call from her home phone to avoid caller ID. As another option you could have him/her call other assistants or paralegals at your competitors and offer to exchange your fees for their fees or you could do that with other lawyers yourself in your market. If you really want to get into it and have maximum data you can write maybe a few dozen competitors in your marketplace and say you are doing a fee survey and if they would send you their fee list you will create a composite list that does not identify those responding and send them a copy of the results. To keep it simple for them include a stamped, self-addressed envelope with a list of the most common services offered in your practice area. Now you will see what people are charging for services similar to those you offer. You should be able to come up with a range of prices. Use this range to set prices for your own services. My recommendation in law firm marketing planning is to charge at the 75% level of the list. So you should be at or in the top 25% of the fees.

Remember that in general it is not a good law practice management strategy to compete on price. Most potential clients will see pricing that is too low as a signal that there is something missing either from the service, the provider, or the firm. And people who are looking for a low price will follow that low price wherever they can find it rather than becoming long-term clients. So be sure that your price covers your costs and a reasonable profit margin.

The Cost Method in Law Practice Management Pricing

This law practice management pricing method is very straightforward really. One simply determines what the costs are to deliver products or services and adds on a reasonable profit, somewhere between fifteen percent at the least and maybe thirty three percent at the most. The most common mistake in law practice management using this method is to neglect to include some form of your expense. Solo and small firm attorneys tend to not include their own salary!

OK, let me say it again. In law practice management often you count yourself out of the expenses and you should include yourself in the expenses. Why? Often you are doing at least some of the technical work. Yes? Often you are doing at least some of the management work. Yes? As the owner of the business you are due a reasonable profit. Yes? If you are all three of these in one, you should consider one salary as due you for your time and expertise as the technician and manager as well as a profit of fifteen to thirty percent due you as the owner. So be sure to include a reasonable cost for your technical and managerial work in the expenses part of this formula.

Fixed Rate Method in Law Practice Management Pricing

This is the method used by many auto mechanics (it is called “the flat rate book”) and other service providers. This method is where you determine a fixed rate for various jobs and charge that rate no matter what. If the mechanic spends less time than allotted for the job, he makes more. If he spends more time than allotted, he makes less. But in the end, it all evens out (well, usually to the mechanics’ favor if you ask me). Another example using this method is how managed health care has used this system with hospitals and doctors. Lawyers can use this system if they desire.

The “Rule of Three” in Law Practice Management Pricing

This “rule of thumb” called the “rule of three” used in law practice management is not what your CPA might tell you and it does not fail you either. Ask your CPA what they think about it and they will like it. To begin we are going to be thinking in thirds. For the first third we will take the total amount of salaries/bonuses (not benefits just salaries – benefits go into the second third coming next) for the revenue generators and/or timekeepers (this includes you if you are generating revenue) and call that our first third. So add up the salaries of the lawyers,
1000
paralegals, and legal secretaries who generate revenue or are timekeepers and call this your first third (lets just say that number was $100,000 to keep it simple). Whatever that number is take that number again and it is your second third which we will call your “overhead” (thus that second third is $100,000 and don’t forget you if you are doing some managing partner type duties since that part of your time goes here in overhead). Then take that same number and we will call that your last third, which we will call gross profits (another $100,000). What you need to do is take the total amount (in this example $300,000) and now figure out how much you must charge per billable hour, per fixed rate or how many contingency fee cases won to be sure you hit the target we must hit given our first third number times three (in this example $300,000).

This method shows you how much per hour you need to charge. Since you know how many billable hours each revenue generator can do per month, simply divide that into your total of all thirds ($300,000) to see what you need to charge per billable hour to make your numbers come out correctly. As long as you hit your targets you will be assured of a 15% to 30% net profit from your operations. After all if you are the owner of the practice you deserve a fair profit as well don’t you agree? This method is known as the Rule of Three. If this method is a bit too confusing do feel free to contact me and I will help you sort it out in a few minutes on the phone.

It is a good idea to think through all of these pricing methods in determining your law practice management pricing strategy before setting a price and moving ahead with a law firm marketing plan to ensure you are thoroughly exploring all options. Remember the tendency for most lawyers is to price too low. Don’t do that! In another article I will tell you how to speak to potential clients so you never have a problem getting the fee you deserve.

By: Henry Harlow

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Henry has individually coached well over 500 attorneys. You can get free, in depth, and objective information on increasing your revenue while reducing your work hours with free e-courses on client development and time management/productivity available now at www.Law-Firm-Marketing-Coach.com

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Have a great day!

Whether documents reside as paper in a client’s redwell or as electronic files in a computer, the process of their creation has changed little over time – someone types them. In fact, along with dictation, typing has been a business process mainstay of not just the legal industry, but corporate America, for decades.

Up until the 1970’s, the dictation to transcription process generally meant a secretary sitting in the same room with her “boss”, physically writing down every word uttered into a notebook using shorthand. After this time consuming task, she would then travel to her desk and typewriter and transcribe her notes as a first draft. The attorney would make revisions by hand and the document would be retyped from scratch on a new sheet of paper until final – when it was typed one last time from scratch onto letterhead, usually with several carbon copies. I’m sure anyone who was raised in the PC era can’t even imagine typing the same base document over and over – but that was how it was done!

In the late 1970’s, the introduction of two pieces of office automation dramatically improved on the document generation process: the cassette recorder and the electric word processor.

Instead of tying up a secretary for hours, a cassette recorder allowed attorneys to dictate to a tape which was then handed to their secretary for transcription throughout her day or, for larger documents, to the firm’s word processing department. With the introduction of recorded dictation, law firm productivity soared! Secretary’s could answer phones and handle administrative tasks as they transcribed and attorneys enjoyed the new freedom of being able to “work” independent of their secretary and even office — so long they had their portable recorder, batteries and fresh tapes they could produce and get the “work” done.

The next improvement to the process, or electric word processors, removed the double entry work of documents created on typewriters and law firms adopted this “new fangled” technology with arms wide open. Leading the way was Corel’s WordPerfect® which was created specifically for law firms and DOS, long before Windows and the far inferior (IMHO) Microsoft® Word were even a thought. To this day, WordPerfect’s Fkey functions remain etched in my memory and it’s Reveal Codes feature make it an “intuitive” application for most beginners.

The next improvement to the document generation process will undoubtedly be recognized as the jump from analog to digital dictation and the options that then become available.

Hard to imagine, but this one relatively minor change in how dictators produce the work, can provide heaps of benefits for everyone – from the ability for dictators to work from any internet connection or telephone; to the ability of HR personnel to track and monitor the actual work in progress at a firm; to the flexibility to send files “in house” or to lower costs, to a transcription provider or Virtual Assistant.

While it is true that in today’s world many attorneys draft their work while sitting behind their keyboards, if an attorney is fairly computer literate and can type at a decent rate using all fingers (ok, 8 is ok too!), then through cutting and pasting of previously created documents and other software enhancements, this method of document creation can be an efficient use of time. However, since all attorney time is usually billable, the argument could be made that less than proficient attorneys should not draft documents through keyboarding, otherwise clients end up paying for administrative tasks at attorney’s rates. Also, one needs to pay careful attention to meta data (the hidden information in documents) when cutting and pasting.

Just as music and video have moved away from “tapes”, so too will dictation. The dictation/transcription process remains the best method to get the work done and upgrading to digital is actually inevitable. Word on the street (aka LegalTech NY) is that analog transcription machines will shortly become scarce then the little tapes will start going up in price. If you see that, you know the time draws near to investigate digital equipment. Also, if your current equipment breaks, really consider upgrading to digital. Everyone in your firm will be happy you’ve made the switch – including you.

My recommendation are products by Olympus ordered through Bret Williams of www.novuscript.com. Bret is an Authorized Olympus Dealer who is happy to provide preferential pricing and free shipping on orders over $200 just for mentioning “LegalTypist”.

While I try to follow the motto my dear ol’ mom instilled in me as I was growing up: “If you don’t have something nice to say … don’t say anything at all,” I do feel constrained to caution would be upgraders away from Sony® products. I have had nothing but trouble with their proprietary file types and dictators report their buttons and functions are almost impossible to understand. In comparison, the same associate handed an Olympus DS3000 was able to create and process digital dictation files with very minor effort. For the hard core partners who really resist change, I recommend the Olympus DS4000 as it is the only digital recorder on the market with a slide switch — so it feels just like a tape unit but without the tape!

Andrea Cannavina, CEO of LegalTypist, Inc., http://www.legaltypist.com, provides custom digital dictation and initial drafts transcription solutions to attorneys, law firms and those who work with the legal industry. Andrea is an EthicsChecked Master Virtual Assistant with over 15 years legal administrative experience. LegalTypist opened its virtual doors in April 2001 and since has assisted dozens of firms and businesses with the implementation and configuration of customized digital workflow.

For a free copy of Andrea’s 20 minute podcast – Digital Dictation 101, send an e-mail podcast@legaltypist.com.

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